Improving the 'feel' and access of our forum

[ChrisArthur7769]

Hi, we have been running www.RVOC.co.uk for over a year now and have made some progress, but I feel like I need some help / confirmation that we can do what I want to do to make it more user friendly

1) I want a 'landing page' for anyone visiting to be able to understand what the club is all about with a link to register / subscribe - is there somewhere in Xenforo for this link? It's currently not very welcoming to new people

2) I also want to restrict what non paying people see (even if they have registered) - I would like them to be able to see the forum and thread titles but not be able to get any further when they click on them (I seem to only be able to give all or nothing in this regard - if I relax any permissions it allows everyone to see everything which does not encourage people to pay to subscribe )

We have the following member tiers and I have annotated what I would like them to encourage interest and membership

Registered – Newly registered people currently get basic access - 5 and 7 day promotions apply then I'd like the to see the thread titles with a subscribe link
Lurking – registered but not active, promotions have expired – I'd also like them to be able to see the thread titles with a subscribe link too
Unregistered – landing page only with subscribe link
Paid Subscriber – full access - this is as it should be currently

I have some technical help and am doing a small bit myself but I am getting lost in the permissions!

Can anyone confirm if what I am looking to do is achievable please?

Thanks in advance

Cassie

 

[M@rc]

1) I want a 'landing page' for anyone visiting to be able to understand what the club is all about with a link to register / subscribe - is there somewhere in Xenforo for this link? It's currently not very welcoming to new people

Yup

You can create a new Page Node and set it as your route (Admin Panel -> Setup -> Options -> Basic options -> index page route).

2) I also want to restrict what non paying people see (even if they have registered) - I would like them to be able to see the forum and thread titles but not be able to get any further when they click on them (I seem to only be able to give all or nothing in this regard - if I relax any permissions it allows everyone to see everything which does not encourage people to pay to subscribe )

That's possible too. Check out these two permissions:

View threads by others
View thread content

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

Yup

You can create a new Page Node and set it as your route (Admin Panel -> Setup -> Options -> Basic options -> index page route).

That's possible too. Check out these two permissions:

View threads by others
View thread content

Thank you - if I have either of those permissions set to yes the user can see everything! I have them set to 'no' to restrict what can be seen but I want them to be able to see the forum thread titles
I thought I had it set up correctly a while ago but when someone I know went on without logging in they realised they could see everything so I had to go all out and block access which makes things very unwelcoming which isn't good when I'm trying to build membership from Facebook :/

 

[Mr Lucky]

Thank you - if I have either of those permissions set to yes the user can see everything!

If you have View threads by others set to yes they can see titles but cannot see content unless View thread content is also yes.

There must be some other user group permissions that overriding the no in this case.

registered users (the primary group) should be

View threads by others = Yes
View thread content = No (they must have no other usergroups set to yes)

And your paid up group

View threads by others = Yes
View thread content = Yes

I'm not clear why you have the lurking usergroup as well as Registered

 

[Seeker-Smith]

It's pretty uninviting the way it is. Yikes error page home page.

 

[Mr Lucky]

You can create a new Page Node and set it as your route (Admin Panel -> Setup -> Options -> Basic options -> index page route).

This is exactly what you need. I have done that (see forum link in sig) and it has a button to register for guests that shows as a post thread button when logged in

It's pretty uninviting the way it is. Yikes error page home page.

I agree. At the very least you should have a New posts or Forum list as the home page.

But a page node with widgets and some text/images is best IMO

 

[Mr Lucky]

If you want some critique I would also say the design is not inviting, the blue is very harsh

But the fact that nobody can even see the thread titles would put me off, I'd go and join another RV forum. This one looks quite welcoming

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

If you have View threads by others set to yes they can see titles but cannot see content unless View thread content is also yes.

There must be some other user group permissions that overriding the no in this case.

registered users (the primary group) should be

View threads by others = Yes
View thread content = No (they must have no other usergroups set to yes)

And your paid up group

View threads by others = Yes
View thread content = Yes

I'm not clear why you have the lurking usergroup as well as Registered

The Lurking UG is historical - I wondered the same! Maybe I'll delete that usergroup..

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

If you want some critique I would also say the design is not inviting, the blue is very harsh

But the fact that nobody can even see the thread titles would put me off, I'd go and join another RV forum. This one looks quite welcoming

The blue is also the club colour - all the merchandise is that colour, we are a quality group and hopefully that colour is a good quality one (we are UK based too)
This club has been going for nearly 20 something years so want to keep it familiar, but thank you for the critique, we are slowly modernising bit by bit!

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

OK I have been and checked the permissions for the Lurking and Registered and made sure they both are set to view threads by others - I even changed that on the Unregistered / Unconfirmed group and still no joy :'(

What happens if I delete a user group (Lurking)? I can get my IT man to do a back up first but I can't see that it is a relevant group and may be confusing things

Also, is there anyone who can log in as an Admin type person and check the settings for me? Bit dodgy maybe but I could possibly create an admin user for them? (I hope that doesn't sound too desperate / crazy )

Thanks for all the help so far, I really appreciate it

 

[Mr Lucky]

What happens if I delete a user group (Lurking)? I can get my IT man to do a back up first but I can't see that it is a relevant group and may be confusing things

That's what it looks like.

 

[StarArmy]

It's pretty uninviting the way it is. Yikes error page home page.

This. I saw the board wasn't viewable and immediately closed the window.

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

PROGRESS!

I deleted the 'lurking' group - no change

I then changed the general permissions to yes for 'view' and 'view node' and you can now see the forums and their threads but not the thread content which is a whole lot better!

I need to review the permissions to ensure that new users can post 5 times and have full access for 7 days (this was set up previously, I am not sure why it has changed)

Can you have a look and see if you can see more now please? Thank you

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

PROGRESS!

I deleted the 'lurking' group - no change

I then changed the general permissions to yes for 'view' and 'view node' and you can now see the forums and their threads but not the thread content which is a whole lot better!

I need to review the permissions to ensure that new users can post 5 times and have full access for 7 days (this was set up previously, I am not sure why it has changed)

Can you have a look and see if you can see more now please? Thank you

Ughhhh people who have not registered 'guests' can either see everything thing or nothing!

It is currently set as follows: general permissions - view - yes, view threads by others - yes - they can see everything including the thread content

If I take the general view off they can see nothing and get the unfriendly 'you must register to see this' page! My brain hurts :/

 

[jeb35]

Make sure you are using node peremissions not usergroup permissions.

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

Make sure you are using node peremissions not usergroup permissions.

Thank you, I've just looked and the unregistered has view node and view threads by others set to yes, but I still get the you must register message when I log out and look as a new user!

 

[Mr Lucky]

I've just looked and the unregistered has view node and view threads by others set to yes,

I had another look and I can so nothing sort from the error message You must be logged in to do that. No forums, no threads nothing

 

[ChrisArthur7769]

I had another look and I can so nothing sort from the error message You must be logged in to do that. No forums, no threads nothing

Exactly! But if I change the view permissions you'll be able to see everything as if you are a paid up subscriber

 

[Mr Lucky]

But if I change the view permissions you'll be able to see everything as if you are a paid up subscriber

I don't understand the point of not letting guests see anything. At least let them see the forums and thread titles.

But also without access to any content you aren't going to do very well in Google - but maybe that is the point if it is just a private forum.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

Exactly! But if I change the view permissions you'll be able to see everything as if you are a paid up subscriber

No that is not correct. You have all sorts of options of what "guests" and "registered" and even "paid registered" can view.

Sounds to me that you need a primer on Xenforo permissions. Trust me at first its a bit hard to grasp but it makes compete sense and will do everything under the sun for options.